Cheer Up, Mr. Widdicombe

January 1, 2019
The Widdicombes work through a family epidemic of almost life-threatening anomie in their elaborate summer house on Bainbridge Island.Spend a head-spinning summer with the Widdicombes and their entourage in James' gleefully over-the-top satiric debut. Carol, the lady of the house, is set on becoming a New Age Mrs. Ramsay, hosting artists and writers in the mansion she is redecorating in a "bohemian Paris meets California cool meets Pacific Northwest Casual" style, angling for a feature in a décor magazine, winning instead comparisons to a "hotel waiting room...in Liberace's cerebral cortex." Her design process relies on the principles of her New Age guru and houseguest, Gracie Sloane. "Source Energy requires imagistic fuel to do the daily work of manifesting....It is to this end we pin our hopes and dreams to our Vision Boards." Gracie is holed up at the Widdicombes' palazzo to work on The Habit of Wildness, a book that recommends "feral romping" and "whimsical savagery." The Widdicombe patriarch is a foulmouthed former tennis pro with so little to occupy his time he is nearly suicidal, until he mines his predicament for a self-help book of his own. Son Christopher, home from Rhode Island School of Design for the summer, is suffering even more deeply than his parents as his parody landscapes turn out to be actually gorgeous, and his cruel performance piece, "Son," results in unprecedented familial closeness. As their personal assistant, Michelle, puts it, "When all the Widdicombes were in one room, united in antic chatter, [it's] as though they were playing out scenes from an old screwball comedy." Contributing to this effect are another houseguest, a drunk, pill-popping lout who pretends to be a screenwriter, and their gardener, Marvelous Matthews. The latter is a longtime disciple of Gracie Sloane who is about to see his own Vision Board really come through.Never a dull moment.

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February 1, 2019
Flitting among the occupants of Willowbrook estate on Washington's Bainbridge Island, the narrator of James' debut guides readers through this mordant comedy of manners. At the outset of summer, Frank Widdicombe is in the dumps because his annual guys' trip to Auvergne has been cancelled. His wife, Carol, worries about his mental state and the state of her salon (always in italics); she wants Frank to be happy, and she also wants Willowbrook to be featured in Inside Places magazine. Try as he might, their artist son, Christopher, just can't win the disapproval of his parents, who desperately want him to follow his bliss and have as much fun as possible. But with staff and visitors constantly about?Scandinavian-enthusiast assistant Michelle; coffee heir and aspiring horror-film writer Bradford; motivational author Gracie; a gardener and a recovering alcoholic called �Marvelous?love just might blossom by summer's peak, the Widdicombe's Midsummer Feast. James is a fine writer, and his narrator maintains a consistent, ironically self-serious tone, skewering contemporary mindfulness culture and the pursuits of those with time, money, or both to burn.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

DEBUT Frank Widdicombe appears to be depressed. His wife, Carol, has made every effort to turn their elegant summer home into a showplace and enticing refuge. She thinks maybe raising a flock of chickens and growing some heirloom vegetables will help Frank cheer up. To that end, she hires a gardener. He and Frank hit it off and become friends. Carol also invites self-help guru Gracie to visit while working on her newest book in the hopes she will influence Frank for the better. Gracie and the gardener meet and soon become more than friends. Widdicombe son Christopher is home from art school for the summer and spends his days scheming to get away from his family, but everything he tries draws him closer to them. The family's secretary/administrative assistant Michelle keeps the household organized, but her attempt to connect with yet another house guest ends in heartbreak. The chickens never materialize, but there is a family of otters living under the deck. VERDICT First novelist James boasts numerous literary honors, here delivering an absurd and hilarious satire full of unlikely characters who are all wildly introspective, dysfunctional, and prone to New Age philosophizing. [See Prepub Alert, 9/24/18.]--Joanna Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Libs., Providence